Largely responsible for that was a thriving kiwi film industry, which had nurtured a hotbed of talent, he said.

"When Weta are doing a movie they need everyone in the country to work for them but these 3D artists are still there when the movie's finished."

Kiwis were generally well-trained and did not get flustered by tight deadlines, he said.

The country also offered an attractive tax system compared to countries in Europe.

About 30 per cent of Gameloft's local team are Kiwis, with the remainder from more than 20 different countries.

"We get people from all over the world because New Zealand in a very attractive place to live," Wagner said.

"We want to hire more New Zealanders - the more locals we can get the better."

He was looking forward to a flood of graduates emerging from new game development degrees being run by providers like the Media Design School in Auckland.

"They're still in the first year of the degree so we need two more years before we can hire those graduates.

"I would be willing to hire all of them."

Gameloft recently received a $600,000 research and development grant from Callaghan Innovation to help the company pay salaries for employees working on its 'engine' - the skeleton of a game which allows it to run.

Wagner said that grant had directly enabled Gameloft to hire 12 more people at the end of January.

A number of other game development studios were also doing very well in New Zealand, such as PikPok and Small Worlds, he said.

"These companies weren't there 10 years ago so the industry's growing."

In 2011, Gameloft NZ attracted controversy when a former employee complained of excessive work hours.

The NZ Labour Department found no evidence of breaching health and safety laws.

"All creative industries work long hours and we're no exception but in 2011 we were severely short staffed after losing a few key positions," Wagner said.

"We worked on it. There were some things we needed to work on and we have needed to get the right number of staff."

There are around 450 game developers in New Zealand.

The global game development industry will generate spending of about USUS$97 billion this year and US$115 billion by 2015, according to research by Gartner.